Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Scenes from the Hike

"A powerful and inspiring landscape, the Grand Canyon overwhelms our senses through its immense size; 277 river miles (446km) long, up to 18 miles (29km) wide, and a mile (1.6km) deep" -National Park Service

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Exploring Arizona

Welcome! This blog is intended to chronicle the adventures and learning processes of our students in an elective course through the Department of Health and Sport Sciences at Otterbein University. This course was designed for the student who is physically active and desires an opportunity to explore the outdoors as a learning environment. The orientation for this course will occur the first two days of the experience while still on the Otterbein campus. During this orientation, students will learn the basics of hiking with backpacks and the effects of exercise at altitude and cold on the body. Prior to their departure for Arizona, students will participate in a fitness assessment to determine their baseline aerobic, strength, and flexibility levels. Students will also learn as part of this experience how to administer and articulate the results of their tests to each other. A post-trip fitness assessment will be conducted upon return to campus enabling students to learn the effects of the physical experience on their pre-trip baseline data. As part of this course, there will be a day spent working on a service project at a national or state park in the Tucson, Phoenix, Sedona, or Grand Canyon areas. The National Park Service personnel will be enlisted in several of the parks to learn about the area geology and history. Students will experience 3-5 hour day hikes in the Tucson, Catalina, and Superstition Mountains culminating with an overnight hike in/out of the Grand Canyon.